Join us on a 7-day Italian cookery tour in Abruzzo, central Italy! You will be part of a small group of people and will be able to develop your cooking skills, expand your wine knowledge and discover the region’s off-the-beaten-track secrets.

The highlight of this tour is the chance to have light and easy walks along the amazing Abruzzo mountains, ancient hermitages and coastline between national parks and unique trabocchi fishing houses.

HIGHLIGHTS

Light walk along the amazing Abruzzo mountains

Light walk along the fascinating trabocchi coast

Hands-on cooking classes: pasta and pizza

Award-winning winery tour, wine tasting

Olive oil tasting, cheese making, cheese tasting

Fishing demonstration, visiting artisans, farm, castle, abbey

Personalized cooking booklet, apron

6 nights accommodation

6 breakfasts, 8 meals in selected restaurants, farmhouses or wineries

Small groups up to 16 people

ITINERARY

* B= Breakfast | L=Lunch | D=Dinner | T=Tasting | C=Cooking Lesson

Day 1 | Airport pick up and welcome to Abruzzo dinner! (*D)

PM

Rome Fiumicino airport pick up at 2:30 pm and transfer to the ancient Roman town of Vasto on the Adriatic Coast after crossing beautiful Abruzzo mountains looking at amazing landscapes. After checking at charming and family run Hotel San Marco (or a similar accommodation) in the historical downtown, get to know your guide and learn more about the 7-day Italian cookery holiday and enjoy a welcome dinner in a traditional restaurant in the heart of Vasto.

AM

We’ll visit Vasto’s colorful market to get seasonal products

Next we’ll have an exclusive cooking class with a housewife in her house and we’ll learn how easy fresh pasta is to make and be introduced to her favorite seasonal sauces. An example menu includes Bread with meat sauce, Pasta alla chitarra with meat sauce and polpette (meatballs), Cavatelli with vegetables and Tarallucci (typical biscuits from Abruzzo) – naturally this depends on seasonal availability

PM

Lunch will consist of the scrumptious dishes that have been prepared in the morning

In the afternoon we’ll explore Loggia Amblingh, a promenade overlooking the fascinating crescent-shaped coastline, the old town with its medieval Castle, charming lanes, a tower, the Cathedral and Piazza Rossetti, dedicated to Gabriele Rossetti, a poet from the town and father of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Before free time, we’ll meet some local artisans

Tonight you may experience dinner on your own in one of the many restaurants of Vasto

AM

After breakfast we’ll drive to the marvelous Abruzzo mountains and national parks to have a light and scenic walk* to discover solitary and remote hermitages set in the rocky mountainside and to admire quite unique landscapes

AM

Following breakfast we’ll visit the La Selvotta Olive Grove that has been farmed by Giovanni’s family for 3 generations to produce DOP olive oils. He will unfurl he secrets of what Homer described as “liquid gold”and we will finish with an olive oil tasting

Next we’ll visit Fontefico, an award winning winery that sits between a marine park and the mountains. We’ll have a wine tasting with pairings from local cheeses and salami and tour of the vineyard and cellars by owners Emanuele and Nicola

PM

After lunch we’ll have an homemade pizza cooking class that includes the teaching of traditional bruschette and tiramisù